Pet Peeve Thursday: Hard to pigeohole or just an ugly baby?

I'm pretty sure that when I'm laid in my pine box--or put on the track for the crematorium--that people will dab their eyes and say, "Boy, her Telenia series will live on forever."

NOT!

Without a doubt, my Tales of Telenia are the least favorite of my series--and I haven't even finished the first trilogy.

I'm not a "traditional fantasy author. The truth is, I don't really LIKE traditional fantasy. But like Star Trek isn't really science ficiton, Talenia isn't really fantasy. (Which is one reason why I call it ADVENTURE-fantasy.) The stories aren't marketable to SF or fantasy readers.  But you know what, I wrote them because it was FUN. I had a heck of a good time (especially with the second book, Journey.)

I had hoped my readers who love Tricia, Katie, and Jeff would trust that I'd deliver an enjoyable story with my new heroine, Amanda Shelton. That hasn't happened.

Okay, Amanda is a very confused person. And who wouldn't be after crash-landing on a strange planet, with terrible food, and where women aren't valued? (Oh, was I writing about women here on Earth in 2014?  Could've been by some accounts ....)

Here's the blurb for the first book (Threshold):  Amanda Shelton is clever, adventurous, and tough--and she'll have to be, because she's crash landed on a world where her saviors might well be her enemies. It takes fierce determination to keep the people of this frightening and unfamiliar place from stealing her shuttle technology, or imprisoning her while they do it. Yet what she knows could save countless innocent lives--including those who keep this world safe. Facing this test of spirit will take everything Amanda has...if she survives at all.

And here's the book trailer Ellery Adams and I made (I just love that music!):


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A reader told me that Amanda doesn't always act logically. Well, she's NOT a Vulcan. Eventually, Amanda learns to accept the world she now calls home.  But does that mean she can't work to better the lives of, not only the women on the planet, but the treatment of the wounded soldiers? Telenia is at war. Amanda has the skills and knowledge to not only upgrade the care of the wounded, but help marginalized women (especially those widowed by the war) to take care of themselves and their families.

Is that a feminist agenda? No more than, say, Heifer International, a charity which works to help (mainly) women take care of their families by lifting them from hunger and poverty by giving them a cow, goat, chickens, or bees for food and for free enterprise--and they have to pay it forward. That's Amanda's agenda. To give people the tools to help themselves.

Will I write more Tales of Telenia? Well, I already have. In fact, I've already finished the next trilogy. Finishing the first one is on the docket for summer. (I like to work backward on things. Makes them more of a challenge.)

Still, it seems I have an ugly baby on my hands. Maybe that's why I love Amanda so much--she needs it.

And that's my grump for the day.

What's making you grumpy today?